Journey of the Heart
by Chison
Summary: After the evil is vanquished...and friends lost, Iris must journey to Kingdom Hearts to seal it forever...But who knows what sinister plans are in store to stop her... Especially when the Nobody are involved...
1. End of the World

End of the World

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"Can I have your attention passengers…" a low male voice came over the intercom, "although we are running a little late, we should reach our destination on time…" with that, two flight attendants wandered the aircraft, making sure everyone was belted to their seat for the flight.

A teenage girl with blonde with black streaks in her hair, ice blue eyes sat looking out the window, her white jacket was covered in pockets, and she wore a pair of black jeans, "miss can you buckle your seat?" one of the female attendants asked, snapping her out of her trance, she nodded and complied with the stewardess's request. "We have found our missing passenger and we are ready to take off…" the male voice came again, "attendants please take your places…" The girl rolled her eyes, _"it will be probably another ten minutes before we are airborne…"_ Soon after the airplane made its ascent into the air, and began to fly to its destination.

Hearing a familiar jingle, the girl rummaged frantically through her bag looking for her cell phone, _"Why did I get myself a flight that went all night?" _She thought to herself, finally finding her phone, "hello?" she asked, "Hey Iris! When are you getting back to town?" Iris looked down at her phone telling her it was 12:46 AM, "Well…" Iris started, "The flight takes five hours…so about six or seven in the morning…" The line went dead for a moment, "all right…I catch your drift, I'll let you sleep!" With that, the call ended, and Iris placed the phone back into the bag.

Still being wide-awake, Iris bent over to search her bag, finding a pair of headphones, along with a Playstation Portable. She opened another compartment, finding disks for the gaming device, and found the Kingdom Hearts game, and her face lit with joy. Iris loaded her game, she left off fighting Maleficent in Hollow Bastion however she finished her off quickly and progressed further in the game. Coming to a brick wall in the form of Riku, she was defeated twice, "Well…Third time's a charm…" she whispered to herself, and Iris attempted the battle again, and found success. Watching the scene play out before, her eyes started to water when Sora gave up his heart for Kairi.

Pausing the game, she looked out the window into the black sky, _"Zashi… Its been a whole month since you left…"_ Iris turned to the paused scene before her, _"and Marlena…I don't even know how long you have been gone for…"_ With that, she resumed the game, however her heart skipped a beat when she was given back control of Sora; however he was a Heartless. "Why do I have this awful pit in my heart?" Iris whispered to herself.

"Every light has Darkness, every Darkness has Light…" a voice seemed to echo inside of Iris' head, and she quickly looked around for the source but found none. However a streak of lightning caught her eye from outside and she paused the game again, sitting the device on her lap, "ladies and gentlemen we have encountered some turbulence, please fasten your seatbelts…" the low voice came again. Iris quickly found her seatbelt and latched herself to her seat, and starred out the window: dark, purple swirling clouds seemed to fill the night sky, with the lightning become more frequent.

"_What's going on?"_ Iris thought to herself, while looking out the window, and she shook in her chair at the sight out the window, "I know I have seen this before…" saying those words Iris' mind was instantly taken back to the start of Kingdom Hearts, looking back at her paused game, she remembered Sora being pulled into a sphere of Darkness. Looking back out the window, Iris watched in horror as the clouds started to form into a sphere just like from the start of the game, and suddenly the lightning became almost constant, inching closer towards the airplane.


	2. Figure in Black

Figure in Black

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By

Chison

Iris panicked, _"the only way Sora made it off the island was attacking the Darkside…"_ she thought to herself, shielding her eyes from the lightning, meanwhile everyone onboard started to panic, screaming and flailing in their seats. "Attention passengers, we have encountered…Something I need all of you to be strapped into your seats for your safety…" the captain's voice came over the loud speaker. Iris planted her back onto her seat and gripped her armrests until her knuckles turned white, "What do I do? What do I do?" she repeated to herself.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the wing of the air craft, making it drop in altitude, the panic of the cabin only became louder. Iris shut off the game system and shoved it into her bag, then closed her eyes tight, trying to block the light from the lightning. However, the plane veered to the left, and then back to the right, apparently dodging the bolts of lightning making everyone worry including Iris. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the chaos of the cabin but one person caught her eye: it was a person dressed in a black coat with sliver decals for the hood.

The figure lifted his head, however behind the hood was black, and it shrugged its shoulders, "I'm amazed you can even see me…" with that, the figure moved effortlessly through the turbulent plane, walking right up to Iris. "If you want to live through this, I suggest you unbuckle your seat belt." The figure said, turning its back to her and started walking a few isles away from her and raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. At the exact moment, lightning struck the roof of the plane, tearing a hole, causing all the oxygen masks to fall from the ceiling. "This is your only chance: escape, or be devoured by Darkness…" with those words the figure vanished into a oval of darkness, leaving Iris.

_"What should I do? Should I stay here on the plane or leave? Without a parachute…I'm as good as dead…"_ Iris thought to herself, and then she took a moment to look around at the expressions of the people around her: many were filled with fear and sadness, and she slowly made up her mind and unlatched her seat belt. Moving slowly through the isle people watched in awe and wonder, however they started to claw at her, "NO!" "You will die!" everyone seemed to shout, trying to stop Iris, but slowly she made her way to the hole in the aircraft. "MISS! YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! WITHOUT A PARACHUTE YOU'LL DIE!" one of the stewardesses shouted over the chaos, however Iris turned to her shaking her head, "no…I don't think I will…" With that, Iris carefully climbed up onto the two chairs under the hole and jumped, relying on the rushing air pressure to launch her outside.

Falling through the dark sky, Iris reached out to the failing air plane, only to watch it be struck by lightning again, tearing the aircraft apart. _"Well…what now? Am I falling to my death?"_ she thought to herself, hearing the wind rush past her, but slowly she stopped dropping and started to float to the right, towards the purple sphere. Watching the sphere get bigger and bigger, Iris started to doubt her decision, "Why did I listen to that guy in black? Was it because he was from Kingdom Hearts?" she asked herself, however before she could blink, she passed through an ellipse of darkness.

A freezing sensation ran up and down Iris' spine, and she became short of breath, "Its so cold…" she said, and her eyes started to grow heavy, and suddenly she landed on a very solid surface, shivering as she was laying on the ground, "Good work Ansem… She is the girl…" a low, gruff voice said, "good. I was almost afraid I had gotten the wrong one…" another male voice chimed, however it was too much for Iris and she passed out.

Slowly opening her eyes, Iris looked around the room, the walls were made of steel plates drilled to the original wall, with a massive computer to her right, monitors filled with information. Sitting up on the chair, she saw a beam of light, however it was filled with numbers and when it faded, it revealed the man in the black coat from the airplane, "Good. Your awake, DiZ will talk to you…"


	3. Meeting a Nobody

Meeting a Nobody

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Iris slowly sat up in the small sofa, "DiZ…why is that name familiar?" she asked herself aloud, but the personage in the black coat shrugged his shoulders, "That is because you have already met me once…" a voice came from Iris' left, she turned to see a man dressed in a black robe, with a red cloak on his shoulders, and his face seemed strapped together with red belts. "I've…met you?" Iris asked, and the figure nodded, "I am the one that made you into an Unknown, however I am not here to perform that again…" With that, DiZ moved towards the computer and sat in the chair, turning to the man in black, "Ansem…Would you go and find him?" Iris' attention shot to the man in the black coat, "Wait…You are Ansem? The seeker of Darkness?" Slowly, the man took off his hood, revealing it to be indeed Ansem, with his long, white hair, dark skin and orange eyes.

Ansem turned away from Iris and lifted his left hand, causing a ellipse of darkness to form, and he walked through it, shutting it behind him, "Now Iris…we have much to discuss…You know your friend is already a Heartless…" She got up from the sofa and walked toward DiZ, "You mean…Zashi?" He nodded, "you can feel it in your heart correct?" Iris gave a simple nod, then DiZ turned back to the monitors, "fortunately for everyone, Zashi had a strong will, resulting in both a Heartless, and a Nobody…" Iris was confused, "what's a Nobody?" DiZ turned away form his computer and looked at Iris, "A Nobody is simply a shell of a former person, however they have no hearts…" He turned back to the monitors, "Nobodies respond as though they have hearts, but they cannot feel intense emotions that only the heart can produce: love, hate, joy, rage…"

Within a few moments, the black ellipse came back, and two people appeared, Ansem and another young man. DiZ turned in the chair to meet the two of them, "ah…It is good you have found him so quickly Ansem…" All he did was simply nod, and moved to the opposite side of the room, and leaned against it, arms folded in front of him. Iris looked over the other man, he had brown hair, green shimmering eyes and he was wearing a black coat like Ansem, "who are you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes, looking Iris over, "I'm Iris…" she slowly nodded and DiZ got to his feet, "Now, Zeoshi, behave your manners…" He turned to DiZ, "fine, whatever…" he shrugged his shoulders.

Iris seemed to stare off into space, _"although he doesn't act like Zashi…if he had black hair and different eyes…it could be him…" _DiZ sat down at the computer again, and proceeded to push buttons on the console, "Iris, we need to get you to Kingdom Hearts a quickly as possible…" Then he got up from the chair and walked over to the machine in the wall housing a beam of light, touching a few buttons on the wall, the beam enlarged, filled with numbers, and faded revealing a black coat like Zeoshi's. "Take this, the Nobody will be watching you, it will keep you relatively safe, since they only rarely attack their own kind." Handing the coat to Iris, she unzipped the front, and slipped it on, the sleeves extended past her hands, and she zipped it back together. "It's a little big…" Iris said, holding her arms out, finding the coat was still too long, DiZ chuckled, "Don't worry, it's a natural component of the coat, it keeps the wearer safe."

Ansem moved away from the wall and walked toward Iris and placed his hand onto her shoulder, "You'll get used to it…" With that, Ansem removed his hand and opened another black ellipse and disappeared into the darkness. "What exactly is Kingdom Hearts?" Zeoshi asked, trying not to sound interested, but his expression told otherwise, and DiZ sat back down at the computer, and pushed more buttons. "Kingdom Hearts… The gathering place of all hearts, the doorway to the ultimate power within the heart of all worlds…" Zeoshi stood stunned, "wow…sounds kinda…nice." He said with a mild expression, DiZ had moved from the chair and placed a hand onto Iris' forehead, "what…" she started, but DiZ silenced her, "I am reading your heart for what kind of weapon it would wield." And after a few moments the beam shone, then faded revealing a black trident. He removed the hand and gestured for her to take the weapon, she moved timidly towards it, and grasped it with her right hand; feeling the cold metal sent shivers up her spine, but she used her other hand and wielded the weapon. "Good. That weapon is connected with your heart, so you can summon it through your heart" DiZ smiled, and a few seconds later, Zeoshi was also equipped with a weapon, a sword.

"Now that you are prepared for your journey, you must make haste to Kingdom Hearts. The fate of all worlds depends on your success." DiZ claimed firmly, looking at both Iris and Zeoshi. "Right. The fate of all worlds…" Zeoshi repeated sarcastically, and he lifted his left hand and opened an ellipse of darkness, "are you ready?" he turned to Iris, who simply nodded her head, and he passed through without another world, followed closely by Iris.


	4. A Nobodies Will

Nobodies Will

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Passing through the ellipse of darkness, Iris looked around for a moment, and only saw darkness, "hey come on, we can't stay here…" Zeoshi said in a firm tone, and started walking away from her, "where…is this place?" Iris asked, running beside him, "this is darkness, it binds hearts and worlds together, and if we don't hurry some of the Nobody might find us." He quickened his pace and pulled away from her. She caught up to him and for a while they simply walked, then suddenly Iris stopped, "what's wrong?" Zeoshi stopped as well, turning to her, "I don't know…I feel like something or someone is here…" He looked around as well, but found nothing, "come on it must be your imagination, lets go." With that, he started to leave her behind, _"I know something is here…something important…"_ Iris thought to herself as she caught up to Zeoshi again.

Stopping again, Iris took the time to look around the strange place, however there was not much to look at. Everything was black, the only color that existed was on their clothes, "come on, we've got to go." With that, Zeoshi lifted his hand, and an outline of a ellipse in sliver slowly formed. "Are you coming? Or would you rather stay here in darkness?" he questioned, watching her reaction, she shook her head and walked towards the portal, but stopped and looked across the empty void again. "I know you are here…" Iris whispered to herself and passed through the portal.

Within an instant, both of them appeared on the other side of the ellipse, and it quickly shut behind them. "I wont be able to use that spell again for a while…it takes a lot out of me to use the darkness like that…" Zeoshi breathed, his body bent over, using his legs for support, however Iris had already begun to wander, and from the cylinder room she made her way to the exit seeing what seemed like a river basin, however the rocks for the walls were blue and looking toward the horizon, she saw a town. "Zeoshi…where are we?" Iris turned, and she watched him walk to the balcony, "to be honest…I don't know, I guess it was someplace I felt in my heart…" She quickly turned, "what…" but she stopped herself mid-sentence. _"I can't let Zeoshi know he doesn't have a heart." _Zeoshi was interested, "what? Were you going to say something?" Iris quickly shook her head, "heh, no you were hearing things…"

The pair made their way around the corner of the tower and walked down the stairs, and came to a circular room with stairs leading down around the walls. "I…I know this place." Iris said, stunned and she started walking towards the handrail, "You've been here before?" Zeoshi asked, she shook her head, "I mean, I've seen this place before I met you…" Suddenly small, black portals appeared all around them, with Heartless pouring out, filling the room and pushing them into the center of the room. Standing back to back, Zeoshi spoke, "listen…whatever happens, fight tooth and nail. Got it?" looking back at Iris, who slowly nodded, and he summoned his sword and charged into battle against the Heartless. Iris summoned her trident and also charged into the fight, destroying the smaller Shadows before moving on to the others, she finally took care of the them, but something clanged against her weapon: it was an Invincible heartless complete with wings and a sword who battered Iris, making her loose her balance and falling to the ground.

Within a moment, Zeoshi stood in front of her, "remember what I told you right?" he whispered to her and started to defend against the attacks brought on by the Invincibles, however Zeoshi was already weakened by using the darkness to travel between worlds and soon slumped to his knees and fell forward from fatigue. _"What are we going to do now?"_ Iris thought to herself and clamped her eyes shut, waiting for the final blow, but it never came. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw a blonde haired teenager, dressed in a white jacket with a red hood, and a black shirt, along with matching pants. "What are you two doing here?" the blond haired man asked, Iris slowly got to her feet, "We are looking for Kingdom Hearts." She said, her voice shaky from the stranger who saved them, and then noticed his ice blue eyes, _"Strange…I feel like I've seen those exact eyes somewhere…"_ Iris thought to herself, and he looked over the two, "are you guys with the Organization?" she quickly shook her head and Zeoshi had climbed to his feet, "who are you?" he asked, rubbing his forehead. The teenager simply turned his backs on them, "I'm just a guy without a heart…" This caught Iris' attention and she called out after him, "Are you a Nobody?"

He stopped dead in his tracks, and suddenly two weapons appeared in his hands and within an instant, he had both of them at her neck, "I am my own person, I'm going to find the other portion of my heart and claim it back…"

* * *

T-T Im sorry all of you had to wait for this. First I had the infamous Writers Block, then Anime Expo came, and I didnt get much writing done since the plane ride was only two hours rather than an 21 hours bus trip. Anywho, expect more from me, since my Writers Block is broken and my stories are going to move forward! 


	5. Familiar Faces

Familiar Faces

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"so…that makes you a Nobody, since you don't have heart." Zeoshi scowled, with a smirk on his face, the teenager grew angry, but simply turned and left, "I would watch your backs. You never know what's in the darkness…" his voice echoed throughout the room, Iris turned to Zeoshi, _"I wonder if Zeoshi knows that he is a Nobody…"_ but he had already started to go down the stairs. "Hey wait for me…" Iris said as she hurriedly caught up to him, and they passed through the doors to their right. Walking outside, they came to a balcony that followed the left side of the wall, and they started walking along the path, however Iris turned around to see the building they had just came out of: it was run down, with many holes in the walls, however there was a massive Heartless symbol on the wall, painted with red, "uh…Zeoshi…I know where we are…" Iris said as she stopped to turn back to him, "we are at Hollow Bastion." Zeoshi lifted his head to the symbol and then put his right hand on his chin in thought, "I feel…like I've been here before…"

Iris was confused, "you've been here before? How?" He looked down at the ground and placed his right hand over his heart, "I feel it right here. I've been here before." With that they continued onward, moving towards the platform, and riding it down to the base of the valley, getting off, Zeoshi spoke, "Our best option is to climb out of here…" With that, he started scaling the blue cliff face, with Iris close behind him. After 15 minutes of climbing, they reached the top, and laid down on the ground and looked at the distance they had just climbed. "I…Never…Want…To…Do…That…Again…" Iris panted, trying to catch her breath, however Zeoshi had already climbed to his feet and looked at the buildings off in the distance, "Look, there might be something there…" Iris tried to get up and see, but it was no good, her body was weak from the climb. Seeing this, Zeoshi bent down, "want me to piggy-back you there?" She gave a simple nod, and he picked her up, and they started walking towards the buildings.

Walking for what seemed forever, they finally made it to the outskirts of the town, however as they made their way into the city, several Heartless made their appearance, Zeoshi quickly set Iris down against a wall, and summoned his sword, and defeated two of the five Heartless before he realized how weak he was from carrying Iris. As he fell to his knees in exhaustion, he saw flashes of light, cutting through the Heartless, and then the beams faded, it revealed a teenager dressed in black, with brown spiky hair. "That was close…Are you all right?" The man said as he turned around, revealing a pair of ocean blue eyes, and a crown necklace, along with two red pouches on the side of his black shorts. "Yea…I'm all right…but I don't know about Iris…" he turned to her sitting against the wall, and the teen rushed to her side, "it just looks like she's fainted, we should get her to Merlin's house." Zeoshi nodded and the teenager carried her to the house.

"Hey Merlin! I need your help." The teen shouted into the small house, and a man with a blue pointed hat and robes came from another room. "Sora? What is going on?" Merlin asked, looking over Sora then Iris, "It just looks like she is unconscious. Lay her here." He said, pointing to the bed, which he did, and Zeoshi sat down at the foot of the bed, "don't worry, Ill watch over her. You must have things to do…" With that, Sora walked out of the small house and into the street, fending off the small spurs of Heartless. "how did you get here without a Gummi ship?" Merlin asked, waving his hand, and making a chair come to life, walking behind the wizard, allowing him to sit, "I…We traveled here by Darkness…" He listened to the words, and put a hand to his chin, "Darkness you say?" Zeoshi nodded, and Merlin got up from the chair, "I have things to do, I will leave you in her care until I return." With that, he disappeared in flashes of colored light.

Stirring in her sleep, Iris' eyes gradually opened, revealing she was in another place, and frantically looked around the room, and saw Zeoshi sitting beside her bed, asleep. _"Hm…Maybe Zeoshi is more like Zashi than I ever thought…"_ She thought to herself as she climbed out of the bed and wandered towards the window of the small house, seeing a small neighborhood, with people sweeping their walkways, and greeting each other as they passed. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and it swung open, "Merlin? We've come to hold the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee Meeting!" A loud, female voice echoed throughout the house, then turned to see Iris, who had turned to see the people at the door. The teenage girl in the doorway had black hair, along with a short black shirt and a matching pair of short shorts, "Who are you?" she asked, and Iris stood up, "Im…Iris…" with that, a man moved past the girl with black hair, "Yuffie, who is this?" the man asked, having brown hair and blue eyes, along with a vertical scar across his face, wearing a set of leather clothes.

Another woman followed behind the man, having light brown hair and shining green eyes, she wore a pink and white dress, Iris repeated herself, and the group took their places, with Yuffie sitting on a chair, the man standing against the wall, and the other woman was sitting on a chair as well. "I have a question…" Iris started, "do you know two friends of mine named Zashi and Marlena?" This made the group interested, the man moved away from the wall, pointing to himself, "I'm Leon," pointing to the teenager with black hair, "that's Yuffie, and…" and lastly pointed to the woman with brown hair, "this is Aerith." With that, Leon took his position against the wall, and Aerith spoke, leaning towards Iris, "Marlena and Zashi came to visit us before they left to fight Melantha, the embodiment of Darkness. Zashi seemed concerned, but he did not tell anything, and the last we saw them, they were headed to Melantha's home world…" Iris inched forward in her seat, "do you know what happened to them after?" Everyone solemnly shook their heads, "We've looked in the sky every night, but nothing…" Yuffie spoke, hanging her head low, "however Sora came back to us and helped us claim Hollow Bastion and restore it to what it once was…" Leon's voice echoed.

Iris was confused, "all of you lived here once?" Leon nodded, "we all remember the true name…Radiant Garden." Aerith spoke, looking out through the window and into the orange sky. "do you guys know how I can find my friends again?" Iris asked, looking at each of them, but none could give a response, "Its all right, we will just find them ourselves, right?" Zeoshi's voice rang as he got to his feet.


	6. Organization XIII

Organization XIII

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

They all turned to see who had spoken, "oh, I almost forgot, this is Zeoshi." Iris responded, and Leon squinted his eyes, "you look a lot like Zashi…" He sat down away from the group, "like who?" Iris turned to him, "Zashi was a good friend of mine…" A smirk appeared on Zeoshi's face, "like a boyfriend?" She panicked, "no, more like…a boy who is a friend." He repeated himself, making Iris blush, but she spoke up, "no, not like that at all…he loves Marlena anyway." Zeoshi became interested, "Marlena…I've heard that name before somewhere too…I don't know where, but somewhere…"

Suddenly, Leon got to his feet and placed his hand on Iris' and he dragged her outside and shut the door behind them, "How does Zeoshi know about Marlena if they have never met?" Iris turned away for a moment, "its because Zeoshi is Zashi's Nobody, I guess he can still recall some of Zashi's memories…" Leon looked off into the distance, then back to Iris, "That is quite the problem…it seems like Zeoshi is becoming more like Zashi, and if that's true…then Zashi must still be alive somewhere, or at least his heart would be intact…" Iris nodded, "I know that already…that's why I need to get to Kingdom Hearts to find a way to put Zeoshi and Zashi together again…" Leon looked back to Iris, "that reminds me, Sora also said something about having a Nobody and looking for him…" "I know who that is now!" Iris said loudly, "when Zeoshi and I were in the old castle, we came across a teenager with Sora's eyes, but I couldn't place it until you said something!" Leon nodded his head, "that's good news for Sora, since the more the Nobody exists, it will have more memories, and Sora might be gone forever." With that, they walked back into the small house.

"What were you two talkin' about outside?" Zeoshi was the first to speak, "just a few pressing matters…" Leon responded, taking his place leaning against the wall, "how do you intend to pass between worlds while the barrier is still in place?" Aerith asked the both of them, and Zeoshi proudly spoke up, "Well, I can use the power of Darkness and create holes between the worlds." Aerith closed her eyes as she spoke, "you must be very careful when dealing with Darkness… if you are not careful, it will consume your heart." Zeoshi shrugged his shoulders, "yea I know, but it's a lot faster than taking a Gummi ship." Leon moved away from the wall, "listen you two need to get on your way to Kingdom Hearts…" Iris nodded and got to her feet, and Zeoshi reluctantly did the same.

Moving towards the door, Zeoshi grabbed the door handle and opened it, letting himself out, "Good bye…" Iris said, waving her hand before she left the house behind Zeoshi. "Well…now what?" Zeoshi asked, turning back to Iris, who put a hand on her chin in thought, "I don't really know…" Zeoshi started walking down the alleyway, which interrupted Iris and she followed after him, they seemed to wander forever in the city until they came to a fountain and decided to take a rest. "Aw…it seems the little children are lost…" A male voice came over the air, the pair quickly looked around, but saw no one, until the personage appeared in front of them, dressed in a black cloak like theirs. "Who are you?" Zeoshi stood to his feet and summoned his sword, however this didn't effect the personage at all, "well, you sure have a temper…" with that, the figure lifted his hands to the hood and removed it to reveal fire red hair that spiked in all directions, crystal blue eyes and a grin on his face. However the grin faded when he saw Iris, "Hey! You're the little girl that turned tail and fled the Organization!" Iris slowly got to her feet and starred into the man's face.

"Axel?" She asked, however Axel's anger melted away, "you…remember me?" She nodded and got to her feet, "How could I forget you? You were the loudest of the bunch…" This brought a smile to his face, "girl listen…now that you're here again, you need to watch for back for a guy named Xemnas." Zeoshi was confused, "who is Xemnas?" Axel rolled his eyes and turned to face him, "X-E-M-N-A-S. Xemnas, the leader of the Nobody, got it memorized?" Iris became concerned, "wait…is Xemnas the first Nobody I met?" Axel simply shook his head, "you mean inside Castle Oblivion? No way, that was the punk Riku…Or maybe it was Marluxia…" Axel shook his head, "listen, they are going after the Keyblade master and his Nobody and are on the look for a special Heartless…" "Special Heartless?" Iris repeated, then her eyes shot open, _"they must be looking for Zashi!"_ "Yeah, some kid got wiped out by the Darkness, but we think if we can get both the Nobody and the Heartless we might find a way to get our hearts back…"


	7. Truth Revealed

Truth Revealed

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"Axel, you idiot…" a female voice echoed throughout the city, and suddenly another figure in black appeared, pointing to Axel, "You should not reveal our plans to none other than our own!" Axel's expression went back to anger, "she's a friend," the figure shook her head, "Remember Axel? You killed off most of your friends…" Axel threw his hands in front of him, "the only friend I had was Roxas!" summoning his martial art circle weapons, he lunged at the figure, however she simply moved out of the way, and Axel fell through a vortex of darkness. Turning to Zeoshi and Iris, the figure took a step forward, "if you know what is good for you…you will not interfere with our work." With that, the personage raised its hand and snapped its fingers, summoning dozens of creatures in white jumpsuits. "I might as well take care of the problem right now. Dusks! Eliminate these pests." Pointing towards Zeoshi and Iris. Within an instant the woman was gone, leaving the Dusks to circle around the pair, "well…are you ready for a fight?" Zeoshi whispered to Iris, who nodded in response, and summoned her lance.

Zeoshi thrust his sword into the first dusk, causing it to warp its body into a cylinder from the pain and two other dusks jumped after him, Iris swung her lance at their feet, causing them to fall, and using the momentum from the sweep, Iris brought the lance above her head and slammed it into the one of the dusks, causing it to disappear in a wisp of grey smoke. Looking up to see the dusks, he also jumped into the air, attacking one of them, he smashed it towards the ground, but did not notice the other until he felt two gashes in his back, causing him to fall to the ground. "Zeoshi!" Iris called out to him, however the instant she moved, the remaining Dusks seemed to grab on to her, weighing her down until she fell to her knees. " Come on Zeoshi…Help me!" Iris shouted, desperately trying to reach him, however she quickly held her hand high and concentrated on fire, "FIRA!" she shouted, clearing the dusks from her body, they leaped up into the air and put some distance between Iris.

Reading her lance again, she looked over her enemies, but suddenly felt a strong blow to the back of her head and she fell down unconscious. "I told you…" the woman in black looked over the two of them, and then looked to the dusks, "get them to the prison…" pointing to them, the dusks walked towards the two of them and picked them up, the woman turned around and using her right hand, created a vortex of darkness, and the dusks walked through first, then the woman.

"Uh…where are we?" Zeoshi stirred, slowly waking up, "Iris!" he shouted and crawled towards her, and gently shook her shoulder, trying to wake her up, however he stood up and looked around. The walls seemed to be pieced together from many different pieces of steel, mostly white and grey, walking slowly to the bars, he looked out, and saw the horizon with a great city underneath the castle. "There has got to be a way out…" Zeoshi looked around the room, desperate to find any opening for them to escape. "there is no way out, I've checked many times." Hearing a female voice the turned around to see a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a simple white dress, "who are you?" She gave a smile and stood up, "I'm Namine, they captured me because of my…unique powers." Zeoshi starred at her, "I know you from somewhere, why?" Namine giggled, "well that is a secret only I and a few other people only know." Zeoshi became confused, "but why can't I know?" Her expression changed from happy to sad and she walked past him towards the bars of the cell, "Its not easy to say this…but Zeoshi…you were never supposed to exist." He slowly walked beside her, "I don't quite understand…" Namine turned to him, "listen you are a Nobody, a person without a heart. Your original body wanders in Darkness…" "Wait. Your telling me I am one of those people we are fighting against?" She simply nodded, "I am a Nobody too, and I don't know where my original body is either…" Zeoshi put his hands on the bars, "so if I'm only half a person…what will happens when I find the rest of him?" She shrugged her shoulders, "well…what I think would happen is that the two of you would be reunited into a single, whole person." Zeoshi turned back to Namine, "but…what if I want to be my own person? Not just part of someone else?" She shook her head.

"The person who you are half of was very strong, he took darkness into his heart and survived. Then he gave his life to make sure the worlds were safe…" With that, Iris began to stir, and she opened her eyes, "What…Where are we?" she asked, slowly sitting up, rubbing her head. "a jail cell…" Namine said, helping Iris up looking at Namine, "I know you from somewhere…" Iris said, and she nodded her head, "right. You did know me at one point." Zeoshi turned, "ok then…next question: how do we get out of here?" The girls looked at each other and both shrugged, and Zeoshi looked around the cell, and saw a lock hanging above the bars on the wall. "Maybe we can unlock it somehow…" Zeoshi said to himself, and raised his sword, pointed towards the lock.

Iris's eyes grew wide as she watched Zeoshi's appearance change, slowly his hair and eye color changed along with his clothes, and small spheres of light slowly formed and clung to the sword and changed it into a keyblade. "Zashi?" Iris asked, but he did not respond, but a single beam of light shot front the end of the weapon towards the lock, making a low clicking sound, the bars on the wall vanished. Quickly running towards Zeoshi, Iris placed a hand on his shoulder, and the faint image of Zashi quickly disappeared, "wha…what happened? I must have blacked out for a moment…" Zeoshi said, putting a hand to his forehead…

* * *

Heh...Sorry this chappie took so long...There was alot of stuff going on in my life, and I didnt think anyone really cared about my writing, but...Its what makes me happy especially since I just got over my Writers Block. Thanks everyone for sticking with this crazy story! 


	8. From the Rubble

From the Rubble

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Climbing up from the ruins, a girl with brown hair and shining blue eyes looks over the wasteland. "Wow…Melantha really twisted this world…" She said to herself, and continued wandering around. "Hey, cut that out…" she said to the little Heartless that had been pulling on her hair, "come on, that hurts." The small, black creature stopped, and looked over the girl's shoulder and shuddered. "I know…" she responded, looking to the small Shadow, _"I can't believe that this is Zashi!" _thinking to herself, she pressed onward, then something caught her eye, and she slowly walked towards it. Placing her hand on the object, she twisted it with her hand, "YES!" she shouted, and the shadow scrambled off her back and tilted its head at her, "well don't just stand there… could you give me a hand?" She asked with a smile on her face, and the creature crawled toward her and helped remove the debris.

Wiping off a few beads of sweat from her brow, she looked at her find: a door. "This means I can finally leave this world and look for your Nobody!" With that, she summoned her keyblade into her hands, and the Shadow heartless scurried away, fearing the weapon. "Its all right. I'm not going to hurt you." With that, she pointed the keyblade at the door, and repeated one phrase in her mind, "Traverse Town" over and over, and a beam of light shot from the tip of the weapon towards the door, causing the entire door to shine with light. Crouching down, she reached for the door handle and opened the door, peering down; she could clearly see the dimly lit streets of Traverse Town. "Come on…" she said, stretching her hand toward the heartless, it slowly made its way towards her and she held the creature in her arms and jumped into the door.

Falling for what seemed like a moment, the woman had hoped to land on her feet, but as she passed through the door at Traverse Town, she suddenly found herself looking to the stars and fell flat on her back. "Ow ow ow…" she said as her body ached from the sudden fall. She slowly got to her feet and looked around. To her right was a small hotel, and a courtyard was down below with a familiar fountain she recognized right away, to her left was the gizmo factory, and into the other districts. Walking down the path, she came to a pair of wooden doors and pushed them open, finding herself in the first district, she made her way left, then right, around the various buildings she knew very well and into the shop labeled: Accessory Shop.

"Hello?" she asked, opening the door, she found a familiar face, but it was not the one she was expecting, "oh, Marlena! Its been a while since you came around." The man behind the counter greeted her, raising a hand. "Hey Johan…have you seen Cid around?" she questioned, Johan put a hand to his chin in thought, "well…if I recall…Cid and the others left…" Marlena put her hands on the counter, "do you know where?" Johan looked to the ceiling, then back to her but he gave a shout, "Heart…less!" Pointing to the shadow that was with her, she put a hand in protest, "no! Its not like the others…he…" she lowered her head, "is Zashi." Johan looked at Marlena, then to the shadow and back to Marlena, "all right…whatever you say…you're the Keyblade master." He said shrugging his shoulders. "Oh! That jogged my memory! Cid and the others are in Hollow Bastion! They said they were going to rebuild their world, lots of other people went with them…" Marlena was looking towards the fireplace, "yea…there are not a lot of people I noticed…" She got up, and the heartless crawled up onto her arms, "Thanks Johan, I'll see you later!" she said with a nod, and wandered towards the massive wooden doors and set the shadow down, and summoned her Keyblade.

Repeating the phrase Hollow Bastion over and over, a beam of light shot from the end of the keyblade and to the door, causing the doors to disappear, and a vision of a different Hollow Bastion greeted her: Ansem's castle had been stripped, leaving only the Heartless emblem and a new town had sprung, filled with people going about their lives. Scooping the shadow in her arms, they passed through the portal, and a warm breeze greeted them on the other side. Suddenly, sparks of magic appeared on Marlena's left, which formed into a man with a long white beard wearing a blue pointed hat and blue clothes, "oh Marlena! We were expecting you sometime soon, but this is wonderful." Her face was washed with confusion, "we?" she repeated, and the magician smiled, "why yes, Cid, Leon and the others are waiting at the house." While walking they caught up on many of the things that had happened then, they came to the house, Merlin opened the door, "ah, hello? Is anyone home?" They wandered inside, where Leon and the gang came from the back, "Marlena!" everyone gave a joyous shout, "You just missed Iris and Zashi's Nobody." Leon stated, which saddened Marlena, who took a seat on a chair, "aw man…" However, his expression changed as he spotted the Heartless. "What…What is that Heartless…" he cut off his own words and looked to Marlena, "…that's Zashi?" he asked, and she simply nodded.


	9. Abduction

Abduction

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Namine rushed to aid the pair, "are you all right Zeoshi?" she asked, and he looked at her, "I don't know what just happened…but I heard someone's voice in my head…" helping Zeoshi to his feet, they wandered outside the cell, and started down the path, Iris wandered towards the edge, and looked over. Her mouth slightly fell open from the sight: all around the castle was nothing but city lights, some blinking and others moving against the black ground. "What…is this place?" Iris said, while Zeoshi and Namine joined her, looking over the edge, Namine shook her head, "I don't have a clue…" Zeoshi took this attention from the view and looked around, "besides that…where are we?" Everyone took a moment to look around, when Iris gasped, pointing to an object in the sky, "What is that? It looks like a heart!" Suddenly a low chuckle echoed around them, "that would be the result of my work."

A black ellipse formed in front of the trio and a person in a black coat came through, with this arms raised, "you see…I have been collecting hearts for quite some time…the process is almost complete." The personage removed this hood, revealing white hair along with a set of beady, dull orange eyes. "who…who are you?" Iris asked, taking a step forward, the man simply walked past them, looking to the moon, "What would you do if you knew my identity?" They all turned, "there is not a single person who can stop what I have started." The man said to himself, and Zeoshi moved to the front, "just who exactly are you and what's with the moon!?" he shouted, pointing to him and then to the celestial body in the night sky. Turning around slowly, he had a scowl on his face, "I am the leader of Organization XIII: Xemnas!" Iris took a step backwards, _"this is the man Axel warned us about!" _she thought to herself as she looked at his face, then suddenly she knew, "you… Your Ansem!" Xemnas smiled, "ah, I understand you have met my Heartless…I had no idea he would try and conquer the worlds by himself, but I must admit, his research is profound…" Namine finally spoke up, "what research?" Xemnas gave a hearty, laugh, "the connection between Heartless and Nobodies of course."

Namine was stumped, "he was studying the connection between…" Xemnas simply nodded, his gaze turned into a stare, "of course you would know about this Namine…" She turned away, but Zeoshi moved in front of her, blocking his gaze, "What does it matter? Nobodies are just halves of people?" Xemnas had a grin on his face, "true, but if those halves are extraordinary people, what then?" Confusion washed over Zeoshi, "extraordinary?" he repeated, Xemnas nodded, "take for example Namine," he said pointing to her, "she is simply a half of that girl Kairi." Iris and Zeoshi looked at her, "Namine…is it true?" Iris asked, and Namine simply nodded her head, Zeoshi summoned his sword and pointed it at Xemnas, "How do you know that?" he said with rage in his voice, but he simply chuckled, "My eyes and ears are everywhere." Just then, another black ellipse formed behind him, and another figure in black came through, "Superior, we have found what we are looking for, he is where we suspected." A low male voice echoed, Xemnas nodded, "very well, has he been brought back?" "yes, though he resisted us, he is quite the fighter…like his whole." Xemnas smiled and raised his right hand, "good. I shall be there shortly." With that, a black ellipse formed behind the personage, and he disappeared. "As you have heard, I have other matters to attend to…" and in a swift motion, two beams of red light appeared his hands and he sliced through the sword and grabbed Namine by her neck.

Reacting that instant, Iris summoned her trident, only to have it be cut like Zeoshi's sword. "Your efforts are futile. We will have our agenda proceed without interruption." Using his left hand, a black ellipse formed, "NAMINE!" Zeoshi shouted, and a beam of light shone in his right hand, and it clashed with the red beam. "What…is this?" Xemnas said with curiosity, looking over the keyblade. "This is unexpected, finding another Nobody keyblade bearer…our plans may be progressing faster than we thought…" with that, he knocked away Zeoshi, and the red beam disappeared, being replaced with a white bolt of lightning, latching onto his wrists and ankles. "Zeoshi!" Iris cried out, but knowing she was powerless, she watched as Xemnas carried them through the portal, leaving behind only the echo of his laughter.

* * *

MUAHAHAHA!!! yes. Its true, I am over my infamous Kingdom Hearts Writers Block! it was due to a really good movie which I trust will break any form of writers block: Stranger Than Fiction. If you have not seen this movie, I suggest you run to the movies, since its insert drum roll here about a famous author trying to kill her main character! but I wont give you the main plot of the movie, since thats I think the whole cure to the writers block. 


	10. Reunion

Reunion

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Iris slammed her fists onto the ground, _"how…how did Xemnas just walk away? Now what am I going to do?"_ she thought to herself, "well, you won't get much done just sitting there…" a male voice came echoed, a black ellipse formed, and Axel walked out, standing above her. Looking up, Iris smiled and got to her feet, "Axel!" she shouted, and tried to hug him, but he quickly moved out of the way, "I'm not here to help you…" he said, turning away from her, Iris' happiness suddenly faded away, "what?" she asked, confused, "Xemnas thinks your friend holds the secret to getting out hearts back." She shook her head, "but…he is just a Nobody, just like you!" Axel grinned, trying to hide his anger, "you don't think I know that? Xemnas thinks everything has a purpose…but I really don't know…" but his grin faded, and a frown came across his face, "I have to do what Xemnas tells me…I don't want to be a Dusk, so I need you to disappear…" "What? Axel…" Iris started, but he lifted his right hand, and a portal appeared behind her, "Why don't you come with me? Leave the Organization…" He turned his eyes away from her "Iris…its not as easy as it sounds… Please, just go." Iris turned around, facing the portal, and walked through it.

Being suddenly surrounded by darkness, Iris felt her memory slip just a little, "I…must be in the Realm of Darkness…" she felt a small warming throughout her body, _"What is this…Zashi must be in here!"_ Iris cupped her hands, "ZASHI!!" she shouted as loud as she could, but it was only an echo that seemed to travel endlessly. Taking a step forward, Iris felt like she had dropped something, but remembered Zeoshi's words that people loose their memory in the Realm of Darkness. Suddenly, Iris felt a hand on her shoulder, turning around quickly, she saw a tall man dressed in black, "hurry, you have to come this way…" he said, removing his hand, and creating a vortex which he passed through, and Iris did the same. Opening her eyes, she realized that she had been transported back into DiZ's chambers; the figure moved towards the sofa and took off his hood, revealing Ansem causing Iris to panic, "Who…who are you really?"

He sighed, "I was once controlled by this man…but one day, I wont need the darkness to fight my battles…" She took a step towards him, "once controlled…by the real Ansem?" Ansem nodded his head, "then…you must be Riku!" Iris shouted at the top of her lungs, and he gave a nod, "it's about time you figured it out." She walked towards Riku, "listen, Xemnas has taken Namine and Zeoshi! I don't know what he is planning to do…you've got to help me…" This caught Riku's attention, "I know who Namine's whole is…but who is Zeoshi?" Iris took a deep breath, "Zeoshi is Zashi's Nobody, and he can wield a Keyblade like Marlena!" "Marlena…" Riku repeated, then his face lit up, "oh…I remember saving her in the Underworld…she wouldn't stand a chance against Maleficent."

"I wonder how Marlena is faring being the Keyblade bearer…" Riku spoke out loud, "I don't know…but I could really use her help…" Iris sighed, and he got up from the sofa, "the best place to start looking would be Hollow Bastion…" he said, raising a hand and creating a black vortex, "this will take you straight there, I hope you find her…" Iris smiled and walked towards the portal, stopping to give Riku a wave and she passed through. Coming through the other side, Iris felt a warm wind pass through her hair, and looked over the small town that had started to form: various shops had opened, with people performing their 'to do' lists. Walking slowly down the flight of stairs, she wandered into the middle section of the town, making her way past the crowd she descended down another set of stairs.

Iris looked up at the various buildings towering over her head, and she pressed on, however a small group of Heartless appeared in front of her, "Heartless?" she asked herself, _"What are they doing here?"_ she thought to herself, but summoned her trident and started attacking the monsters. Slicing one in half, it disappeared in a puff of black smoke, and two of them jumped in the air, Iris looked at them, and started spinning her trident, effectively knocking them away. In an instant, she dashed toward the heartless on her left and destroyed it, turning her attention back to the three other ones. They tilted their heads in confusion and they suddenly vanished, "what?" Iris asked herself out loud and continued along the winding path, eventually coming to a small clearing, walking towards the house, Iris peered through the window, to see Marlena inside.

Quickly grabbing the handle of the door, Iris let herself in, and looked directly at Marlena, "MARLENA!" she squealed, and she rushed towards her best friend, giving her a good hug, "am I glad I found you!" Iris said, "Me too!" Marlena said, wiping a tear from her eye from seeing her best friend. After making acquaintances with everyone, Iris sat down and started explaining everything, "Marlena…Zeoshi has been kidnapped by Xemnas, the leader of the Organization and he plans to use the Keyblade somehow!" Marlena put a hand to her chin, "that's Zashi's nobody right?" and Iris nodded, "but…" she started, "I can feel him in the Realm of Darkness…" Marlena stood right out of her chair, "in the Realm of Darkness? Then that means…" she turned to the Heartless that had been sitting next to the chair, "this little guy has been playing me for a fool…" In that instant, Marlena summoned her Keyblade, but the monster simply vanished. "But it's not safe to go into the realm…" Iris said, turning her head, "Why not?" Marlena asked, concerned, "when you enter it…you begin to loose your memories…" Iris said, causing Marlena to let her gaze fall to the ground, "but…" Leon spoke up, "What if there is a way to restore memories?" Everyone turned their attention to Leon, "Leon…that is a great idea!" Marlena shot from her chair, "all we need to do is find Namine, and she can fix Zashi's memories!" A smile broke across her face, but Iris lowered her head, "its not that simple Marlena…"

"What…" she started, "what do you mean?" Iris looked back at Marlena, "Xemnas also has Namine…" Marlena sat down, "Iris…just who exactly is Xemnas?" "Do you remember Ansem?" Iris said, and she nodded her head, "well Xemnas is Ansem's nobody…he is really strong… Plus he has all of the Organization behind him…" Marlena slowly slumped back into her chair, "great…things can't get much worse…" she let her voice trail, "Zashi is in the Realm of Darkness right?" Marlena questioned Iris who nodded, and a smile came to Marlena' face, "its looking better already…"


	11. Darkness

Darkness

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Everyone turned to Marlena, "what…" Iris started, "what do you mean?" She gave a sly smile, "Namine told me that the hearts of people who wield the Keyblade are connected, so we wont have a problem finding Zashi in the Realm of Darkness. But we still need a way there…" she let her voice trail and Iris spoke up, "I…can open a portal there." Marlena turned to her, "really?" and she nodded, "well…I've never tried, but it's worth a shot." They both raised out of their chairs and wandered towards the door, stopping to wave to their friends and they left the small house and Iris walked a few feet from Marlena and held out her right hand. Within moments, a small black sphere formed in front of her and started to expand, but Iris started to tremble, sweat had started dripping from her fingers, and it disappeared. Falling to her knees, supported by her arms, Iris breathed heavily, with Marlena rushing to her side, "are you all right?" she asked, and Iris gave a nod, "yea…I didn't realize how much energy it takes to open a portal…"

Suddenly Marlena had an idea, "Iris…I need you to try again." Iris looked at her friend and slowly got to her feet, and held her right arm out in front of her again. A miniscule black sphere formed, but a beam of light pierced it, and it started to expand, "All right!" Marlena shouted, "its working!" Iris lowered her hand and saw the small sphere expand into a swirling ellipse and looked back at Marlena who nodded, "you go first, Iris." With that, she passed through the vortex, being greeted by pure darkness. Moments later Iris was joined by Marlena, who looked over the scene; "well…its certainly different…" she said aloud, and then noticed that her Keyblade had started to shine brightly. Lifting the weapon into the air, Marlena pointed it out in front of her, and a single beam of light shone from the tip of the weapon, spanning into infinity.

"Well…now what?" Iris asked Marlena who shrugged her shoulders, "I guess we wait for Zashi…" Iris moved in front of her, "but…if he has lost all of his memory…" she let her voice trail, "Marlena…did you hear that?" Marlena looked around, "hear what?" "HEY!" a female voice echoed throughout the darkness, the woman was leading a man by the hand, who both women recognized instantly, "ZASHI!" they shouted at the same time, rushing towards their long lost friend. Zashi looked over them, "hello." Was all he said, and then looked back at the woman, "He has lost all of his memory…he doesn't remember anything…not even his own name. Oh." She finished, and held out a hand, "sorry I didn't introduce myself, I'm Melanie." Marlena shook her hand, "I'm Marlena, and this is Iris, we've come looking for Zashi…" Melanie smiled, "then it's a good thing I stayed with him the whole time…" she moved her hand with Zashi's towards Iris' "I hope you two can restore his memory…"

The girls nodded their heads vigorously and Marlena lifted her Keyblade, pointing it towards the darkness again, "oh…" Melanie started, "Zashi had one of those too…it was black if I remember right…" Marlena smiled, "that's good. As long the Keyblade is with him, we should be able to get back his memory." With that, a beam of light shot to the black ground, and a vortex morphed from it, and they waved goodbye to Melanie.

After the trio had left, Melanie shook her head, "heh. It will be unlikely they will restore Zashi's memory…especially since he has a Nobody feeding off his memories." Suddenly Melanie's skin turned black, her eyes turned blood red, "Zashi thought a little light could dispose of the Darkness…what a fool he was." Melantha tilted her neck, loud popping sounds erupting from her, she turned around, and clanged two of her fingers together, causing a sharp click to echo throughout the darkness, "What shall we do about Xemnas?" Another voice called, looking exactly like Sora, only having his skin black and his eyes yellow. "Xemnas is not our concern, because he will be swallowed by the Darkness which he likes to tamper with…" Melantha retorted, turning to Rizu, "he will be vital to our plans, he is seeking Kingdom Hearts, and when he finds it…" she gave a wicked smile, "we shall eliminate him and conquer it." "What about the other Keyblade bearer?" Rizu questioned. Melantha turned away from him, "our spy has gathered all the information we require…her strengths, weaknesses. Everything. She will not stop us this time."


	12. A New Plan

A New Plan

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Emerging through the other side of the portal, Iris and Marlena were carrying Zashi, and they laid him down on the ground, his breathing had become shallow. "What's wrong?" Iris looked over him, waiting for a response, but when the light from the sun hit Zashi's eyes, he screamed, quickly covering them with his arms. "he must have been in the Realm of Darkness for a long time…" Marlena said, putting a hand on his forehead, feeling his temperature, "we need to get him inside, he's burning up!" they picked Zashi up again and carried him towards the door, Iris using her foot to bang on the door, Leon opened the door and quickly moved out of the way, "Zashi!" he said shocked. They carried him to the bed and laid him down. "Merlin, he burning up with a fever, is there anything you can for him?" Marlena asked, he wandered towards the trio and put a hand on his forehead, "there is nothing I can do for him… His heart is fighting the darkness, this is a thing only he can do."

Iris looked down at him and her eyes went wide, "where…" she started, looking over his neck, "where is his necklace?" "What?" Marlena asked, looking over him as well, noticing the missing accessory, "maybe he lost it in the Realm?" Marlena asked, but Iris shook her head, "it was a gift from me…he wouldn't go and loose something like that…" Marlena lowered her head, "your right. I wonder where he lost it…" They covered Zashi with a blanket and let him rest, with him sweating and shifting in the bed. Iris turned to Merlin, "I don't like sitting here while Zashi suffers…is there anything we can do?" He closed his eyes and shook his head, "I believe I already told you…He must fight the darkness inside his heart." Marlena paced around the room, with her right hand on her chin, "what exactly does Xenmas want with hearts anyway?" Iris shook her head, "he didn't reveal that at all…he just said they were part of an experiment…" Marlena turned to her, repeating the last word, _"wait…didn't Ansem use darkness for experiments?" _She thought to herself as she stood by the window, looking out to the blue sky. "Iris…what was there when you met Xenmas?"

Thinking for a moment, she said, "well…there was a massive castle, and a giant heart…floating in the sky like the moon…" Marlena turned to her, "a giant heart?" Iris nodded, "that's what I saw…" Marlena walked to a chair and sat down, "all right…this is a little far-fetched…" she said to herself, drawing everyone's attention. "Namine told me a long time ago that when people become Nobodies, they loose their heart to darkness and only their bodies remain. When the Keyblade destroys Heartless, it releases their heart to go back to Kingdom Hearts… But…" "but what?" Leon chimed, pushing Marlena further, "what if someone or something made an alternate Kingdom Hearts…kind of like a detour…" then Merlin asked, "but what would a Nobody do with another Kingdom Hearts?" Marlena shook her head, "I have no idea…WAIT!" She stood up, knocking the chair down, "that's it! That is what Xenmas is doing! He made a different Kingdom Hearts to find his own heart!" "Wait…" Iris asked, but was reminded of her encounter with Sora's Nobody, and Iris also stood from her chair, "all Nobodies want to be whole again, that's why when I met Sora's Nobody…he told me he wanted to be his own person…Actually…last time I saw him was in the ruins of Hollow Bastion!"

This brought a big smile to Marlena's face, "really?" and Iris nodded, "All right, we are off to the ruins, we need to find Sora's Nobody ASAP!" she thanked everyone, and left with Iris and started to make their way to the ruins. "Aw…it doesn't look that far away…" Marlena said, and started to make her way down the path, _"oh…if only Marlena knew how far away it really is…"_ Iris thought to herself and sighed and followed her friend.

* * *

All right...let me first do this falls to the floor I AM SO SORRY for making all of you wait. I kind of let my other story take a life of its own, and then Anime Expo happened, and then I found the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and all kinds of other stuff. But, I PROMISE from the bottom of my heart that I will finish this trilogy no matter what! Life and limb! Death and Suffering! I will finish this. Also...Thank you everyone for hanging with this story for so long...I didnt mean to make you wait. Honest. I just got caught up in other things, but Im back. 


	13. Dark Days

Dark Days

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

After an hour of walking, Marlena turned to Iris, "uh…just how far away are the ruins?" Iris sighed and lifted her right hand, pointing past her, "well…its beyond the canyon there and down a steep bank…" Marlena stopped, realizing the distance they still had to walk, "oh man…I didn't realize how far away it was…" Iris walked past her, "we wont make any ground just standing here right?" Marlena nodded her head and continued onward, "hey Iris…" she caught up to her friend, "what happened when I left?" Iris turned to her friend and then raised her head up to the orange sky, "well… at first I didn't remember who you were, but I always knew that something was missing, and so did Zashi… Life kind of went on as normal, without you; but out of the blue Zashi also disappeared, and I knew it had something to do with you. It was only until recently that I remembered you."

"What?" Marlena shouted in mock anger and gently slugged her friend's shoulder. "But its true. Since you have been here the whole time, I couldn't remember who you were or if you ever existed at all. It was always Zashi asking if I remembered you…and I couldn't give him a straight answer. I knew that there was someone else in my heart but my head couldn't accept knowing someone I had never met…" Marlena smiled, "Namine told ahead of time that Zashi would probably still remember who I am, and that he would want to find out the truth…I guess it happened a lot faster than I thought… Maybe she knew that Zashi was going to be turned into a Heartless…" "I kind of doubt that…" Iris said as they made their way down the steep bank, "If she knew, then she wouldn't have him fight, right?" Marlena nodded her head and they made their way down in silence.

Finally reaching the bottom, they took a moment to look around, "I wonder if he's left yet…" Iris finally said out loud, wandering a few feet from Marlena, "look!" Marlena pointed upwards, seeing a figure leaning over the rail quickly disappear, they raced towards the closest staircase and dashed up; trying to catch up to the person. Reaching the top of the stairs, they quickly looked around, "where…where did he go?" Marlena asked, but Iris didn't reply. "what are you two doing? Don't you know this place is infested with Heartless?" A male voice echoed, and the same blonde haired teenager came from their left. Marlena turned to see him, "Sora?" She asked, but he shook his head, "I don't know who that is…" Iris looked over him once again and asked, "What's your name?" "My name… Is Roxas." Iris's mouth dropped, "Roxas! Do you remember Axel?" His eyes lit up, "how do you know him?" She breathed a sigh, "I was in the Organization, me and Axel are—were good friends." Roxas narrowed his eyes, "then you know what Xemnas has planned right?"

Both of them shook their heads, causing Roxas to walk past them, towards the crumbling balcony, "Xemnas… he wants to use an artificial Kingdom Hearts to find the heart he lost…" Iris took a step towards him, "but…its not possible…even if he found his heart…he couldn't combine it to his Nobody…" Marlena suddenly stood in front of her friend, "Iris…what do you mean?" "well…" she started, "when you loose your heart, if your strong enough, a Nobody and a Heartless are born, even if you found both of them, and combine them, you may not even get the same person!" "WHAT!?" Marlena shouted at the top of her lungs, "so…everything I've…we've worked for…is all for NOTHING!" Iris quickly replied, "what I mean is…yes you've got both the heart and body, but what about the soul of that person? Sure he may look the same, and have the same memories, but he would be a different person."

Marlena gave a deep sigh and turned away from her friend, "Iris…how long have you known about this?…" She averted her eyes from Marlena, "ever since I was in Castle Oblivion…" Suddenly, Marlena gave a shout, startling everyone, with her keyblade appearing in her right hand, "all this thing has caused me is nothing but trouble and heartache!!" with that, she threw her keyblade over the railing, watching it fall, it simply disappeared, and reappeared right back into her hand. Tears streamed down her eyes as she slowly fell to her knees, "why…why does this have to be so hard?" she mumbled to herself as Iris came to comfort her friend, "Marlena…" she said, "we have always been able to do the impossible…Bringing back Zashi is just another hurdle, then we can go home…" Marlena looked to Iris, "I know…but I thought it would be truly over with that last battle with Melantha…"

"and how wrong you were…" a voice echoed through out the crumbling building, as a black, liquid mass moved before the group and it slowly solidified into a person, looking exactly like Sora, only his skin and clothes were black, and a set of yellow eyes. "Its been a while…" Rizu gave a wicked grin, instantly both Marlena and Iris got to their feet, but Roxas moved in front of them, "hmm?" Rizu looked quizzically at Roxas, "have I met you someplace before?" he silently shook his head, then raised both of his arms, in his right, the Oathkeeper Keyblade appeared, and in his left, Oblivion appeared, and Roxas fell into an attack stance, "you look like my other half…"


	14. Universe

Universe

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"Your other half?" Rizu questioned, but Roxas did not move at all, only glared at him with his piercing blue eyes. Liquid darkness started flowing onto Rizu's right arm, solidifying into a black keyblade, "then lets see if you are as good as the original…" Rizu smirked, however a second later he shouted in pain, as his left arm fell from his torso. "I wouldn't take me lightly…" Roxas simply said, turning to see his blow. "Wha…what happened?" Iris whispered to Marlena, but she slowly shook her head, "I don't know…I saw Roxas there, then behind Rizu…" The dismembered arm slowly crawled up Rizu's leg and reattached itself. _"What?"_ Rizu wondered to himself, _"How is he able to wield both Darkness and Light?" _With that, Roxas again attacked, but it was blocked by Rizu who retaliated with his own blows, however Roxas easily blocked them. Suddenly, Rizu began laughing, it echoed throughout the ruins of the large castle, "oh I cant believe I have to use this already…this is you doom." With those words, everything went black, darkness spanned as far as the eye could see. "This is the realm of Darkness…and a special person is here as well…" Marlena repeated those words and a female laughter echoed from seemingly everywhere. "Rizu, I see you have managed to retrieve the other half, this will surely lead to his destruction."

"That voice…" Marlena whispered to herself, with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face, "Who is it Marlena?" Iris whispered, quivering beside her, "its Melantha…" Suddenly a part of the darkness around them started to form into a humanoid form, fingers as sharp knives, grin bearing razor sharp teeth, and a pair of red glowing eyes. Suddenly a light shone in Marlena's hands, which surprised her, and quickly turned back to Melantha, "Rizu, you have done better than expected…not only have you brought the 'other' but the ones who stand in our way…" "How…" Marlena started, her voice shaking, "how did you survive?" Melantha laughed loudly, "you know there is darkness in every heart, I simply took residence in another being." Iris suddenly stepped forward, "in another person…like Zashi?" Melantha was surprised for a moment, "you are a quick thinker, but you do not know the full extent of what has happened." Marlena suddenly pointed her keyblade to Melantha, "well then why don't you tell us…" she said, but Melantha pointed to Iris, "you know the darkness, feel what it tells you…" Iris slowly stretched out her hand, feeling the darkness flow between her fingers and around her hand when she suddenly gasped, _"I know this feeling! It's Zashi! But how?"_

Iris turned to Marlena, "you are not going to believe this…" she turned, "what?" Iris closed her eyes for a moment, "we are inside Zashi's heart." Marlena's eyes went wide, "what…what do you mean?" Melantha smiled, "let me break it down for you: when we fought, I opened a portal in Zashi's heart, to the 'sealed' darkness and gathered my power here." Marlena pointed the keyblade towards the ground, "I am going to make sure you never get inside Zashi's heart ever again!" With that, she plunged the weapon into the ground, causing light flow from the broken section of the floor, then Marlena grabbed the handle of the keyblade turned the weapon left, causing the light to shine from the ground, illuminating the darkness. When the light receded, both Melantha and Rizu had disappeared; a brilliant glass floor with various pictures of Marlena and Iris covered the floor. "Well…I would have never thought of that…" Iris said, flopping to her hands and knees, "I have never felt darkness like hers…its scary." Marlena stood tall, looking over the floor, "I'm just glad that we got Zashi back." Iris took a few more breaths and looked around, "uh Marlena…. how do we get out of here?" She turned to her, with a smile on her face, "don't worry, we will kind of wake up like it's a dream. Its really kind of weird…" Suddenly, a brilliant light came from above, enveloping both of them; they closed their eyes and began to float towards the light.


End file.
